Penuche

I rarely make candy of any kind, but in honor of Father's Day and in my dad's memory, I decided to make penuche...his favorite fudge. 
Part of every summer in my childhood we spent boating and we always docked at Mackinac Island for a week or so. Even after I married and had kids, we still spent time on the boat and Mackinac was a favorite stop. Once in a while, we drove to northern Michigan and took the ferry over, with all the other "fudge-eaters", a label bestowed on tourists by the islanders. For good reason, as everyone ends up walking around the island holding a half-eaten box of fudge. Here's a little 2 minute video on Mackinac and their famous fudge making.

Practically every other store is a fudge shop as you walk down main street. As you can imagine, the entire town smells of candy (and horses as there are no cars on the island and walking, boats, bikes and horses are the only  methods of travel here) and you can stand outside and watch it being made, window after window. 

Dad was very particular and we always bought our fudge at May's. It was the best fudge store on the island. There was no "grit" in the fudge, just smooth luscious rich fudge. It still is there, family owned and operated. Also, they make the best peanut brittle ever...another of Dad's favorites.

So...he loved penuche. Pronounced puh-noo-chee. And while most penuche has walnuts, Dad liked his without, so that's how I made it for this post. It's amazingly delicious, has a butterscotch flavor with maple overtones. If you're going to make it and your family likes nuts, add 3 ounces of roughly chopped walnuts. 

Penuche

Ingredients:
Vegetable oil cooking spray 
1 can (5 ounces) evaporated milk 
1 1/2 cups packed light-brown sugar 
5 ounces (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter 
1/4 teaspoon salt 
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar 
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 
3 ounces toasted walnuts, chopped (1 cup) , optional

Method:
Coat a 5-by-10-inch loaf pan with cooking spray. Line with plastic wrap leaving a 2-inch overhang on 2 sides.
Bring evaporated milk, brown sugar, butter, and salt to a boil in a medium saucepan, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer, stirring frequently, until mixture registers 236 degrees on a candy thermometer, about 25 minutes.
Transfer to your electric mixer and beat in confectioners' sugar on low speed. Increase speed to medium, and beat until mixture is thickened and smooth, probably about 5  minutes. Reduce speed to low, and add vanilla and walnuts, if using.
Spread mixture in a pan, smoothing top. Refrigerate, uncovered, until firm. Cut into small pieces. 

    Here we are at Mackinac on the boat...Dad, daughter Tracy and me, 1959

Bunny Bark and Easter Gift-Givers

                                                        Happy Easter!

What could be more fun than white chocolate bark for an Easter treat? And with big marshmallow bunnies studded through it! Of course, you can use the miniature pastel marshmallows too, but I couldn't resist these pastel big bunny shaped puffs, although the shapes are difficult to see in the photo.

My collection of Christopher Radko/Ino Schaller bunny band gift givers (called gift givers because the bottom is removable and you can put a gift or candy inside) are drooling over the view of the egg shaped bunny bark while "entertaining" us. It's almost as much fun to get them out for Easter as it is to eat the bark!

In Savannah for their annual house tour recently, I was pleased to see a large collection of the Schaller gift-givers, for all holidays, at The Christmas Shop. (To see the collection, click on Ino Schaller on that webpage.) While my Santa gift giver collection has gotten way out of hand, I did break a promise to myself to resist and purchased one little one. There were lots of Easter gift-givers (chicks and bunnies), a large turkey gift giver that didn't appeal at all and even some Halloween gift-givers....an adorable pumpkin one I'd never seen and I just had to have it. Fortunately, I don't get to Savannah that often because it appears resistance is futile. :)


Bunny Bark

Ingredients:
12 ounces white chocolate (I used 3 Ghiradelli 4 ounce bars)
3 cups pastel marshmallows, mini or bunny shaped (got mine at Target)
Pastel sprinkles of your choice

Method:
Fit some parchment paper in a baking pan and set aside.
Melt the chocolate in the microwave, starting with 30 seconds, stirring well, and then in 15 second increments. Shouldn't take more than 1 minute or so. Remove when there are still some chunks, stir madly until it's all melted.
Add the marshmallows and quickly spread on the baking sheet. Use your sprinkles on top and put the pan in the freezer for 15 or 20 minutes. You want to stop those marshmallows from melting.
Remove and let it come nearly to room temperature before cutting into squares, or use an egg shaped cookie cutter. 
Note: It's easier if you spray some Pam on any cookie cutter you use.

Valentine's Day Bark

A Valentine for you: 
The recipe for a very sweet and simple treat to make for your Valentine loves!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Confetti Bark
From Leenee's Sweetest Delights

Ingredients:

1 package (16.5 oz.) Nestle Tollhouse Refrigerated Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough 

1 (16 oz.) bag white chocolate chips 

Valentine sprinkles

1 cup frosted animal crackers

1/2 cup Valentine's M&M's

(found the last three ingredients at Target)

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 13x9-inch baking pan with aluminum foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray.

Place the opened package of cookie dough in the prepared pan and let soften for 5-10 minutes. Then spread the dough gently with your fingertips to evenly cover bottom of pan.

Bake for 11-13 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Sprinkle white chocolate chips over cookie; bake for an additional 1-2 minutes to melt the white chocolate chips. Immediately spread the melted white chocolate chips evenly over top of the cookie. Distribute sprinkles, frosted animal crackers, and M&M's evenly over top; press down lightly. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours or until the chocolate has hardened. Remove the foil from the pan and break into pieces.

Candy Corn Oreo Bark

How fun is this for Halloween? And I'd never even heard of Candy Corn Oreos. (I found them at Target. Where else?) Not being much of a candy maker, let alone eater, I was in the mood to find something candy-ish for a Halloween post this year. The bark looked funky and fun, so I'm passing it out to some of my more mature (ahem) trick and treaters. Honestly, I didn't think I'd like it because I really don't care much for white chocolate, but I was wrong. It's totally addictive. Bad, bad bad.
Wrap it up in cellophane with some black and orange ribbon and you're all set. Big or little kids, doesn't matter. We're all kids at Halloween.

Candy Corn Oreo Bark
From Jamie  at My Baking Addition 

Yield: 20 pieces

Ingredients:

10 Candy Corn Oreos, chopped

1/2 cup small pretzel stick pieces

1/2 cup salted peanuts

12 ounces white chocolate, chopped (Use three 4-ounce Ghirardelli White Chocolate Bars)

3/4 cup candy corn

festive sprinkles

Method:

Line an 8×8 baking sheet with parchment paper. (I used a 9" square baking pan.)

Spread the cookies, pretzels and peanuts into the bottom of prepared pan.

Melt chocolate in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water, or in the microwave at 50% power, stirring frequently until almost melted. Remove from the heat while there are still a few pieces of unmelted chocolate; stir until smooth.

Drizzle chocolate with a spoon over the goodies in the pan, spreading the top flat to coat evenly. (You have to poke it around a bit to make certain all the little pieces get some white chocolate on them.)

Top with candy corn and sprinkles. Let cool until firm. Break into pieces and store in an airtight container.

Cocada ( Coconut Bark)

Wandering through Cathy's (Wives with Knives) Pinterest boards recently, I came across this recipe for Cocada. Coconut and condensed milk? O.M.G. Cathy's link sent me to Scarletta Bakes , Meagan's lovely blog featuring Southwest cooking. You'll enjoy checking it out. (She also posted step by step photos for making this bark.)

This recipe is candy, pure and simple. Ridiculously easy to make as well. I haven't made candy since the kids were little...fudge, lollipops etc. So this was a fun experiment and it comes with three bench notes:

• you must make it in the size pan described
• you must line the entire pan (including sides) with parchment paper
• and you must wait 2 hours after baking before cutting with an oiled knife

Go ahead, drool over the photo, but I'll add just one more little bench note: insanely sweet!

Cocada (Coconut Bark)
From Scarletta Bakes via Cathy from Wives with Knives

Ingredients:
2-14 oz. cans sweetened, condensed milk (approximately 3 1/2 cups)
1-14 oz. bag of sweetened, flaked coconut (approximately 5 1/2 cups)
1/2 c. light corn syrup
1 tbsp. honey
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Method:
Preheat oven to 350°.
Line an 11” x 17” baking sheet with parchment paper. This step, for this recipe, is not optional: baked cocada will stick to anything other than parchment (foil, a greased baking sheet, etc.) and you will not be able to remove it post-baking. The parchment paper should completely cover the bottom and sides of the baking sheet. Set the lined pan aside.
In a large mixing bowl, stir the sweetened, condensed milk, honey, corn syrup and vanilla together until well-blended. Fold in the coconut and mix by hand until coconut is uniformly distributed throughout the milk mixture.
Spread the coconut and milk mixture onto the prepared baking sheet. Using a rubber scraper, push the mixture evenly across and into the corners of the pan. Bake for 25-28 minutes. The cocada will bubble as it bakes and turn a deep golden brown, with the edges becoming especially dark – it is done baking when the top appears golden throughout.
Allow the cocada to cool and set for at least two hours. Using a sharp, lightly oiled knife, slice the cocada into squares, carefully remove each piece from the parchment lining, and enjoy straight away or store in an airtight container.